"Jo sapna dekha tha woh aaj poora hua, (The dream we say is now a reality)" Ajay Sharma, the head coach of Jammu & Kashmir said after his team won their maiden Ranji Trophy title. He followed up that statement by contradicting himself. "Never imagined that we could win the Ranji Trophy."

So, did he imagine he could win the Ranji Trophy or did he not? Schrodingers' dream!

Either way, at the start of the Ranji Trophy season, Sharma had a request for his team - pick a character from the 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Sholay and play that part. Whether the Gen Z boys fully grasped the pop-culture reference or not, the message was simple: no matter how big or small the role, be a star within the ensemble. Be the Samba, the Surma Bhopali or even Dhanno if you must - but make that part count, make it significant, make it memorable.

He needed an ensemble starcast because this was an uphill task, an impossible dream, and a diktat too fancy for his imagination handed over to him. When he was appointed as the head coach of Jammu & Kashmir, the memo given to him by Mithun Manhas, the then head of the BCCI-appointed sub committee to run the affairs of cricket in the region, was to win the biggest title in Indian domestic cricket. So impossible did that thought seem that Sharma shot back saying, "Pehle qualify to karle (First let's qualifty to the knockouts)."

But as newer processes began to fall into place, a new core was being formed, and a new star was rising, the trust also began to take shape. Jammu & Kashmir reached the quarterfinals of Ranji Trophy in 2024-25, a high they had previously reached only two times in 66 years. Till then, they had everything going their way: the momentum had built-up, and the door to the semis was facing them. But an 81-run alliance between Salman Nizar and No 11 Basil Thampi, allowed Kerala to take a slender one-run lead in the first innings and became the decisive factor in J&K's ouster from the tournament.

"We thought that the one-run lead would haunt us for a long time. But it was important to forget that and move on. So we thought okay jo ho gaya uska to kuch nahi kar sakte (we can't cry over spilt milk), let's do with what exists without worrying about the future."

To move forward, J&K looked past the bigger picture, and started assessing their plans game-wise. "Humne ek naara bhi banaya (We even made a slogan) - we will not let them win, we will win," Sharma says, flaunting the uncreative motto.

But a fresh start needed a fresh outlook. Sharma claims they managed to shrug off the scars of last season's exit, and carried forward the momentum. It began with a victory against Mumbai in Srinagar, and along the way to their maiden Ranji Trophy final, they beat Delhi in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh in Indore, Bengal in Kalyani, apart from thumping victories over Rajasthan and Hyderabad.

"They are all former champions, with a lot of experience, with a lot of Test heroes," Sharma notes.

Even as he claims the momentum continued - most notably with lead pacer Auqib Nabi's performance - there were plenty of smaller pieces to fix, and that had started even before exiting last season. One among them was to separate the IPL stars from the Jammu & Kashmir cricketers. Abdul Samad, who top-scored from the team in the title-winning season, had to bear the brunt of that approach for throwing his wicket away in the five-wicket win against Mumbai. In the next match, against Baroda, the star batter was dropped from the side.

"I was not happy with his batting when I joined, he used to throw his wicket away," Sharma claims. "He used to think he was a star. I told him he was no star and he would become one only if he won the Ranji Trophy... I didn't make him play but we still qualified for the knockout. That's when he understood, and this year, he put a value on his wicket."

For as historic a feat as reaching the final was, Ajay Sharma was aware that it counted for little. He had been part of Ranji Trophy finals several times through the course of his career with Delhi. He knew one thing: No one asks you when you lose.

His message to the team was clear: jhanda to aap logo ne faila diya. Iss jhande pe sirf danda lagana reh gaya hai. (Glory is at an arm's length now.)

However, just ahead of the final, Jammu & Kashmir were dealt with a couple of injury blows. Veteran opener Shubham Khajuriya and in-form Vanshaj Sharma were unavailable. Qamran Iqbal was called in as a late replacement. A night ahead of the game, he took a 9.40 PM flight from Srinagar, which had a layover in New Delhi before landing in Mumbai - where he waited at the airport all night, before boarding a 6:15 AM flight for Hubballi on match day. In just over an hour after landing in the city, he was in the middle taking strike against the moving new ball on a fresh pitch.

After playing his part in seeing off the new-ball threat, Qamran was dismissed for 6, but made his significance felt in the second innings. With Karnataka attempting to fight back, and reducing Jammu & Kashmir to 11 for 2 before Lunch on the penultimate day, Qamran ensured all the good work done till then wasn't lost out. He stayed put, at times unconvincingly but effectively doing his job. He irked the pacers, took on a bouncer barrage, put his batting partner at risk of that fast bowler's ire, but came out unscathed, with an unbeaten 160 to show for his efforts, standing in the middle till the last delivery of the match was bowled and J&K's fate as champions was sealed.

But he wasn't the only opener with a dramatic story. J&K had also hedged their bets on Yawer Hassan, who barely averaged 14.78 in nine matches till then. When Qamran got out early in the first innings, Yawer confronted the Day 1 threat from the pacers and laid the platform for Jammu & Kashmir's massive first innings score with a solid 88 in a 139-run second wicket stand with Shubham Pundir. It was his maiden first-class fifty.

"Yawer Hassan was not getting runs, but we needed an opener, so we turned him into an opener even though he wasn't one," Sharma confessed. "We backed him. Last year, he got important runs. This year again, he was not getting runs, but we backed him.

"When we play in Jammu and Srinagar, there are swinging conditions, so it's difficult to score runs. But when they got such a wicket (in Hubballi), everyone got runs. It's that mindset in the team - when you get the opportunity, don't lose it. If you apply yourself a bit, agar aapke iraade nek hai, to aap kisi bhi mukaam ko haasil kar sakte hai. J&K ki team ne yeh karke dikhaya hai. (If your intentions are pure, you can achieve any goal. The J&K team has proved it by doing exactly that.)"

As the pieces started to come together, with everyone seizing their opportunity at the right time, the cast had perfectly assembled to play the role that Sharma wanted out of them.

"When Sholay was made, everyone had to play their character. All our players have played their parts, and now they have become heroes. They used to think that they are heroes by playing IPL. But this is the prestigious trophy, by winning this your fortunes open up. Now sky is the limit for them. They understand the value of this tournament.

"I'm very happy these boys have created a legacy, and the next generation of players will be inspired by them. They will also try to play for Jammu & Kashmir. Now there will be competition. Mazaa aayega. Now no one can take their place in the J&K team lightly anymore."

In guiding J&K to their maiden Ranji title, Sharma scripted his own redemption arc, the kind of which movies revel in - the Chak De India types, a maligned player earning his reputation back as a coach.

Sharma, a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket through the 1980s and 1990s, had his post-retirement career marred by allegations of match-fixing and links with bookies. He was handed a life ban in 2000, a verdict that he got overturned after a 14-year legal battle. He returned as a coach with the Under-19 team in Delhi in 2019, before shifting base to Jammu & Kashmir.

The title win by Jammu & Kashmir has left him with a badge of honour at last, and he was understandably emotional about it. "My family has started calling me 'coach'," he says. "Earlier I had won the trophy as a player. But to win this as a coach, it's a great feeling. I'm really happy for them and thankful to these guys. It's a very emotional moment for me.

"This is like the rebirth of Ajay Sharma."